


A Tale of Butrins

by hmweasley



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/F, Getting Together, Hogwarts Era, Minor Seamus Finnigan/Dean Thomas, Past Dean Thomas/Ginny Weasley, Past Michael Corner/Ginny Weasley - Freeform, Trans Ginny Weasley
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:08:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24856621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hmweasley/pseuds/hmweasley
Summary: When Ginny learns that Dean and Seamus have finally admitted their feelings for each other, she's happy for them but also a tad bit jealous. Dean insists that she has someone who likes her just as much if only she'll do something about it.
Relationships: Dean Thomas & Ginny Weasley, Luna Lovegood/Ginny Weasley
Comments: 5
Kudos: 37





	A Tale of Butrins

**Author's Note:**

  * For [FandomisOhana](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FandomisOhana/gifts).



When she saw Dean ambling down the corridor by himself, Ginny couldn’t help but smile. It wasn’t the reaction most people had when they saw their ex, but Ginny and Dean hadn’t had quite the usual breakup. It had been far more amicable than the disaster that had been Ginny’s relationship with Michael Corner, and she was glad to still call Dean a friend despite the end of their romantic relationship.

He didn’t notice her approaching as he fumbled around in his bag looking for something. Ginny kept quiet until she was directly in front of him.

“I hear you’re dating Seamus now.”

Dean jumped, dropping the quill he’d just fished out of his bag with a curse. Ginny smirked as she picked it up for him. Her kindness didn’t stop him from half-heartedly glaring at her as he took it and safely stored it in a smaller pocket in his bag.

“I am, yeah,” he confirmed Ginny’s earlier assertion with a sheepish smile, readjusting the bag on his shoulder. “We had a talk and realized a few things. Are people talking about it already?”

The blush on his cheeks made Ginny’s smile widen. In that split second, she decided against telling him that it had been her brother who had been commenting on it to anyone and everyone who would listen. Still, she couldn’t help but laugh as she patted Dean on the shoulder.

“It’s Hogwarts,” she reminded him. “Everyone talks. There’s no escaping that. But, for whatever it’s worth, people are happy for you two. How can they not be? The two of you have been oblivious and in love with each other for years.”

Dean shook his head, but it was with a smile.

“If it was so obvious, why did you date me then?” he asked, cocking his head to the side and raising one eyebrow.

Ginny shrugged. There was no easy answer to the question. She hadn’t been tuned in to the feelings between the two friends when things had first started between her and Dean. Though she’d later realized that many others had noticed, she’d been too wrapped up in her own complicated feelings to have paid attention. It had been to the detriment of both of them probably, but she wasn’t eager to unleash all that on him in the middle of the corridor.

“You were a good kisser,” she said instead.

Dean laughed and shook his head. There was a spark in his eye that showed he knew there was far more to it than that, but he wasn’t eager to discuss it either.

“Really,” Ginny said, “I’m happy for you but also pissed off.”

Dean kept walking down the corridor, and Ginny matched his stride easily as they travelled side-by-side.

“And why are you pissed off?” Dean asked in an annoying voice that hinted he already knew the answer.

“Both my exes are in cute relationships now, and I’m still single.”

Dean wrapped an arm around her shoulders with a sigh. It made it more difficult to walk, slowing their progress, but Ginny didn’t complain.

“Everyone’s journeys are different,” he said.

Ginny pulled a face.

“Please,” she scoffed. “That doesn’t mean anything. I don’t have a cute best friend to declare their undying love for me. Hermione’s my closest friend, and she’s completely gone for my brother. It’s a loss.”

Dean leaned away from her to get a better look at her face, his forehead creased in a frown.

“Since when does the person you fall in love with have to start out as your best friend?” he asked. “Sure, Seamus and I were lucky that way, I guess, but what does it matter if there’s someone else who winds up completely adoring you?”

Ginny shrugged, knocking Dean’s arm off her shoulder.

“Yeah, well, it still doesn’t matter, does it? Because the point is that I don’t have anyone who ‘adores me’ as you so lovely put it.”

Dean stopped walking, and it took Ginny a few steps to pause as well. She turned towards him with one eyebrow raised, but he just smirked at her in return.

“Have you actually not realized?” he asked.

When Ginny’s brow furrowed, Dean laughed and earned himself a glare. She crossed her arms against her chest and cocked her hip as she prepared to argue over something that she didn’t even understand.

“Not realized what?” she asked.

Dean held up his hands in mock surrender as he spoke.

“Have you honestly not realized that Luna Lovegood stares at you like you’ll vanish from existence the second she looks away?”

Ginny groaned, the fight leaving her as she thought about the mess of a situation she’d found herself in for the last several years.

“She stares at me because she hates me, Dean. We’ve been over this.”

Dean laughed, forcing Ginny to glare at a few curious passersby until they continued on their way.

“And I still don’t know why you think that,” he said once the other students were gone. “She’s never done anything confrontational or anything. She just stares. A lot. She wouldn’t be like that unless it’s a crush. What reason does she have to hate you?”

Ginny shrugged and kept walking as an excuse not to look Dean directly in the eye.

“Maybe it’s because I’m trans. Some people don’t like that. I don’t know.”

“But she’s never said anything about that,” Dean stressed. “I get that some people are shit. I really do, Gin, but I think you should try talking to her. Something tells me you’d be pleasantly surprised.”

Ginny bit at her lip as she considered it. She’d thought about it before when Dean had said the same thing. Luna Lovegood was absolutely gorgeous after all; Ginny couldn’t have failed to notice. But something happening between them just didn’t seem possible. Luna had never shied from speaking her opinions in class. Surely she’d have been direct if she’d actually had feelings for Ginny.

Dean patting her on the shoulder drew her out of her thoughts.

“And if it does go south, find me,” he said in a more serious tone. “I’ll help you take care of it.”

Ginny rolled her eyes at the implication that she would ever need help. Her famous Bat-Bogey Hex was more than enough, thank you, but she smiled at Dean a second later anyway. He was a decent guy, after all, and she was never able to stay mad at him for long.

* * *

Luna was easy to find. She always was. While a lot of students tried to adapt their uniforms to make them more individual, no one did it with as much flare as Luna. Ginny found her lounging under a tree with a strange hat on her head that had bunny ears sticking out of the top of it. It looked unlike anything she’d ever seen except Luna had taken to wearing it every time she was outside.

She glanced up from her magazine, The Quibbler, as Ginny approached, her bright blue eyes as large as always. Ginny sat down across from her, where the shade of the tree was speckled with more sunlight than shade. The two girls stared at each other for a long moment as Ginny waited for something confrontational—she wasn’t sure what—to come from Luna’s mouth.

It didn’t. She’d never really said anything to Ginny before, so Ginny shouldn’t have been surprised. Though she’d long thought Luna hated her, that assumption was based entirely on the looks the blonde girl gave her. Whenever the girl spoke, her voice held a dreamy quality that didn’t sound capable of producing insults.

“Dean thinks you like me,” Ginny stated matter-of-factly once it became obvious that Luna planned to keep staring until she spoke.

“That’s your ex-boyfriend,” Luna said, nodding as she spoke. “He’s the one who looks like a Quidditch player even though he’s not. Unlike Michael, who’s a Quidditch player but doesn’t look like one.”

Ginny blinked at Luna several times. She thought she’d grown used to Luna’s strange observations after years of attending classes together, but it turned out that she still couldn’t make sense of some of them. She rather liked the idea of it.

“I think we’re talking about the same person,” Ginny said slowly.

Luna didn’t respond. Just when she was about to raise The Quibbler again and keep reading, Ginny rushed to continue.

“But it seems rather odd, the idea of you liking me, because I swear that you’ve hated me for the past several years.”

Lowering the magazine again, Luna stared at Ginny with the same frown she often wore when someone challenged one of her theories about made up creatures or government conspiracies.

After a few moments of silence that seemed to stretch for hours, she said, “That explains why you always scowl at me. I wondered if the Grumplybums had gotten to you.”

Ginny didn’t even bother to speculate about what Grumplybums were.

“You scowled at me first!” she exclaimed. “You’re always looking at me in class.”

“Looking at you, yes,” Luna said simply, “but never scowling. It’s my own face, so I think I know what it’s doing at least most of the time. I make a habit of looking at it at least ten times a day in the mirror and telling myself something nice about it. My mum said it’s necessary for good self-esteem.”

Ginny gaped at her, her mouth opening and closing like a goldfish.

“So, you don’t hate me?” she asked, deflating further when Luna shook her head. “Then is Dean right? Do you like me?”

Luna smiled for the first time since Ginny had sat down, it wrinkled her nose in an adorable way that Ginny had never noticed before.

“I try to like everyone,” she said. “But if you’re asking if I like you more than the others, then that’s true too. My Butrins try to escape when I’m close to you.”

Feeling light and liable to float off the ground, Ginny couldn’t help but ask, “Butrins?”

“The ones that live in my stomach,” was Luna’s only answer, but it was a good enough one for Ginny, who suddenly realized that she might have a few Butrins of her own that were just as anxious to escape.

“There’s a Hogsmeade weekend this Saturday,” Ginny said, encouraged by Luna’s responding nod. “Would you like to go with me?”

“Of course!” Luna said, her face lighting up brilliantly. “I’ll try to talk to my Butrins, so they don’t cause too much of a bother.”

Ginny nodded, though she thought her own would be spending the entire trip reminding her of their presence.

**Author's Note:**

> Come talk to me on [Tumblr](http://madetofly.tumblr.com)!


End file.
